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Relocated and now computer has some problems


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#1
adifrank

adifrank

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I moved apartments.

I personally schlepped my computer, gently, by car. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I set up my computer at the new location and now noticed a couple of strange things going on:

1. Normally when I would power on my computer, the a blue light behind the power switch would immediately turn on, the hard drive would start spinning and Windows would start up. Now... I press the power button and there is a short delay (ranging from 3 seconds and up to 10 seconds sometimes!) before the blue light lights up, the hard drive goes into motion and Windows boots. The delay time is not consistent.

2. A very high pitched sound seems to be coming out of my CRT monitor. It's an old monitor (about 6-7 years old), but had no problems till now. The sound seems to intensify with relation to the amount of white showing on the screen. The whiter the screen - the stronger the sound. When the screen is displaying relatively dark colors (windows xp desktop image with the grassy hills and blue skies for example) the sound goes away.

I have no clue if these two problems are connected or not, but they started happening upon starting up my computer for the first time at my new address.

The computer (other than the screen) is fairly new. About 1 year old, maybe a bit more.

Any ideas?

THX

Edited by adifrank, 27 August 2010 - 05:49 AM.

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#2
adifrank

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SOME MORE INFO (regarding the high pitch sound from CRT):

After the monitor has been powered off for a while and turned back on, the high pitched sound does not immediately sound up. It takes a while, maybe an hour or two before it starts.
Also, on Google I found discussions on similar symptoms (high pitch sound from CRT) and one guy suggested changing the monitor refresh rate. I checked. Refresh rate was on 60Hz. I changed it to 75Hz and the sound disappeared. I'll report back if it comes up again.

The boot up delay is still happening though.

THX!
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#3
Neil Jones

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I presume you left the PC to warm up as opposed to simply taking it out the car, hooking it up and firing it up?

Should neer take electricial applicanes from one extreme to the another - ie a cold car to a hot room and use them sraight off. It causes condensaion which may cause a malfunction. Always let them warm up to room temperature before you play with them.
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#4
adifrank

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Hi Neil. Thanks for the reply. I didn't hook up the computer immediately after moving it. I'd estimate about 2 hours of it sitting in the new location before wiring it up and booting.

Yet, as I'm living in the mid-east temperatures between car or home with a/c and the outside heat are pretty extreme. Not much I can do about that though....

In any case, its been about 4-5 days since the move and while the high pitched whining from the screen seems to be gone since changing the refresh rate - the boot delay is still there.
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#5
adifrank

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Well...

So a few days later I can say that my monitor is not whining as it was, apparently thanks to the refresh rate change.

But I'm still stuck with that strange delay between pressing the power switch on my computer, upon which I hear the fans start spinning, but nothing else happens. Its only about 5-10 seconds later that the hard drive goes into motion, the monitor gets a signal and Windows boots up.

Whats up with that? Anyone got any ideas?

thx.
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